Tor, there is as much mystery and magic in this as you can imagine. The
copper strapping around the boat was originally used because there weren’t
auto tuners and a large ground plane could only be done that way. It still
works, but you only need one – either a dynaplate or the strapping,
although it’s a good idea to use the strapping between the tuner and the
dynaplate. And no, don’t connect the ships ground to it unless you’re
really looking to galvanically corrode everything in sight.

There is an article (which I can’t find just now) by a serious HAM guy that
indicates you can use a simple through hull for your ground plane because
you’re sitting in a highly conductive fluid, or as we call it, sea water.

Use the dynaplate only for your SSB/HAM. Make sure your antenna lead wire
has stand offs from the shroud it is eventually connected to (I use 3/8″
PVC tubing to run it through, 2.5″ stand offs made of same with wire ties
holding it all together.)

Anyway, with a good autotuner you should have no problems.

Bob

On Tue, Nov 3, 2015 at 11:28 AM, Silverheels via maillist <
> wrote:

I just installed a Guest DynaPlate to enhance Silverheels’ SSB
performance. The instructions, which seem to be written for
Lorans rather than SSB/Ham radios, suggest that the DynaPlate
should be connected both to the SSB’s automatic antenna tuner AND
to the boat’s negative battery ground. However, I’ve read that RF
signals (which I don’t pretend to understand) should not be run
through the boat’s electrical system via a negative battery
ground because they will interfere with other electrical devices
on the boat – or something. SSB antenna tuners are more commonly
“grounded” via wide copper straps to large metal parts of the
boat, like the fuel tank, engine, bronze thru-hull seacocks
and/or the keel’s lead or iron ballast.

Does anyone have genuine knowledge of the most effective way to
wire DynaPlate as counterpoise for a Single Sideband radio’s
automatic antenna tuner? Also, would additionally running a
copper strap from the antenna tuner to, say, the metal fuel tank
further enhance the performance of the DynaPlate?

Thanks,

Tor

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Silverheels, P-424 #17
http://www.silverheels.us

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Bob Fine
s/v Pelican
Pearson 424 Hull #8
http://thesailinglife.blogspot.com
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Start of attached email. Subject: Re: DynaPlate question

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Sent from my iPhone

On Nov 3, 2015, at 11:28 AM, Silverheels via maillist <> wrote:

I just installed a Guest DynaPlate to enhance Silverheels’ SSB
performance. The instructions, which seem to be written for
Lorans rather than SSB/Ham radios, suggest that the DynaPlate
should be connected both to the SSB’s automatic antenna tuner AND
to the boat’s negative battery ground. However, I’ve read that RF
signals (which I don’t pretend to understand) should not be run
through the boat’s electrical system via a negative battery
ground because they will interfere with other electrical devices
on the boat – or something. SSB antenna tuners are more commonly
“grounded” via wide copper straps to large metal parts of the
boat, like the fuel tank, engine, bronze thru-hull seacocks
and/or the keel’s lead or iron ballast.

Does anyone have genuine knowledge of the most effective way to
wire DynaPlate as counterpoise for a Single Sideband radio’s
automatic antenna tuner? Also, would additionally running a
copper strap from the antenna tuner to, say, the metal fuel tank
further enhance the performance of the DynaPlate?

Thanks,

Tor

---

Silverheels, P-424 #17
http://www.silverheels.us

---

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Start of attached email. Subject: Re: DynaPlate question

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Tor,
Truly, skip the dyna plate and go with the KISS counter poise. I did on my first Caribbean trip and definitely had noticeable improvements in performance over the copper counterpoise. and you have no other hook ups other than just a single lead to the tuner.
No through hull attachments no worries about the DC noise or grounds…none of that.
Sorry… but even you can do it in less than an hour.
Alan

Sent from my iPhone

On Nov 3, 2015, at 11:28 AM, Silverheels via maillist <> wrote:

I just installed a Guest DynaPlate to enhance Silverheels’ SSB
performance. The instructions, which seem to be written for
Lorans rather than SSB/Ham radios, suggest that the DynaPlate
should be connected both to the SSB’s automatic antenna tuner AND
to the boat’s negative battery ground. However, I’ve read that RF
signals (which I don’t pretend to understand) should not be run
through the boat’s electrical system via a negative battery
ground because they will interfere with other electrical devices
on the boat – or something. SSB antenna tuners are more commonly
“grounded” via wide copper straps to large metal parts of the
boat, like the fuel tank, engine, bronze thru-hull seacocks
and/or the keel’s lead or iron ballast.

Does anyone have genuine knowledge of the most effective way to
wire DynaPlate as counterpoise for a Single Sideband radio’s
automatic antenna tuner? Also, would additionally running a
copper strap from the antenna tuner to, say, the metal fuel tank
further enhance the performance of the DynaPlate?

Thanks,

Tor

---

Silverheels, P-424 #17
http://www.silverheels.us

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Tor,
Since you’ve already installed the Dynaplate, i won’t tell you to not use
it – although that is what I have done. You might as well connect it to
the ground terminal on your antenna tuner. Definitely don’t connect it to
the battery ground.
I do recommend that you don’t just let it go at that. I think you will get
better transmission performance if you add a few radials to the tuner
ground, going both athwart ship and forward and aft. That is essentially
what the KISS device is – a bunch of radials of various lengths encased in
plastic. I use both the KISS and two radials.

I installed the radials in Horta after having poor performance all the way
across. I started out with the standard copper foil the length of the boat
under the cabin sole attached to the Dynaplate and one thru-hull.
To install the radials I had my crew down in the starboard locker moving
the radials around while I tested the transmission with the SWR meter. We
finally found a sweet spot for the radials, and i had decent performance
for the rest of the trip and return to the states.

Later I got a good deal on the KISS so I purchased and added it. i really
couldn’t tell if it was an improvement or not. At least it didn’t degrade
things.

I long ago trashed the copper foil counterpoise. The Dynaplate is still
there, attached to nothing. i would remove it, but i’m too lazy to patch
the holes.

Regards,
John Stevenson
http://www.svsarah.com
Sarah’s Blog <http://www.sailblogs.com/member/svsarah/>

On Tue, Nov 3, 2015 at 12:03 PM, aphil138— via maillist <
> wrote:

My dynaplate is connected to the antenna tuner ground lug and from there a ground runs to the engine block. What you don’t want is what are called ground-loops. These are multiple wires attaching various grounds in a Hodge-podge fashion. Ideally, you want all the grounds to run to a single point. For me, that’s the engine block. Yes, there is another single-point-ground behind the aft hanging locker, but that goes to the engine block via a short cable. The boats grounding system also connects to the engine block as does the battery ground. Although salt-water is a good conductor, it’s not a great conductor. Just tying into the bonding system and expecting your through-hulls to provide an RF ground is not sufficient for HF communications.

You could make what is described on the KISS page yourself, but you’d still have to pay for the wire and it would be a PIA to wire up. You need specific wire lengths for the bands you work. They apparently already figured it out for you. For $150, its probably easier to just buy the thing.
http://www.kiss-ssb.com/index.html

I have a second dynaplate just below my mast. Its not for an RF ground, its for lightning protection. I don’t know how much protection it provides but it makes me feel better.

Rich

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So it goes, John. Other sailors claim good performance from the
DynaPlate. As I mentioned to Alan just now, I’ve added a copper
strap from the tuner to the fuel tank (in addition to the
DynaPlate), just because I had a length of the strap laying
around, new. I can always add more if necessary.

Tor

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Thanks, Bob. I knew you’d know.

Actually, most of what you said I’d already garnered. I previously had some success running 3″ copper strap from the tuner to several bronze seacocks and also, via a bolt I sunk in, to the keels lead ballast. But that strapping doesn’t last very long; it corrodes, deteriorates and loses its effectiveness. Hence the DynaPlate. It was just the DynaPlate’s instructions advising the second, plate-to-battery-ground connection that seemed suspect to me. I called the manufacturer the other day to ask about it and the tech guy I reached didn’t know whether that was cool or not, but did seem amused that their instruction sheet was all about hooking the DynaPlate up to a Loran.

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Start of attached email. Subject: Re: DynaPlate question

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Ah….didn’t know you already installed it.
Nice thing about the KISS is that you can use the ssb out of the water.
Alan

Sent from my iPhone

Thanks, Alan. Perhaps I should’ve asked here first. My DynaPlate
is now installed and wired to the tuner (with an additional
copper strap from the tuner to the fuel tank, just for grins).
I’ll let you know how it works once we’re back in the water.

Tor

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